Be Aware of Harry Potter Grief Effect on Children

With the launch of the last ever Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – you may feel a sense of excitement. An interesting article on the BaltimoreSun.com  says that if it is true that Harry is killed off, beware of the effect on your children.

“The sense of loss, dealing with death, even the passing of a fictional character, can have a profound impact on children, experts warn, and parents should be prepared to handle questions and pay attention to behaviors that could arise after reading the final book.

“Different people identify with different characters in all forms of literature. Parents should be cognizant of whom their child deals with in any book,” says Dr. Mitch Spero, a licensed psychologist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla.

“With loss issues, if a child is prone to separation disorder, any type of loss will kick up any other loss this child has experienced in life,” for example, flashbacks to the death of a relative or other loved one, he said.

Problems can include depression, sleeplessness, temper tantrums, reverting to bed wetting. Older kids could become irritable, frustrated.”

It is interesting how grief affects children – I had not thought about the Harry Potter effect, but if we are aware of the potential for an adverse mental reaction, then we can be there for them.